P12 Command #14 Pt 4 - How Do We Prosper Spiritually?
God never intended us to live our lives impoverished. He has designed us to prosper in everything that we do. As we have been learning in the previous meetings, our prosperity depends on our relationship with the Father. Today, we will be talking more about how we can prosper spiritually. Today we will answer the question:
HOW DO WE PROSPER SPIRITUALLY?
#1 – BE SPIRITUALLY AWARE
We are not going to prosper spiritual until we’re aware that there is a spiritual realm.
Would someone like to open up and read Matthew 25:14?
Matthew 25:14 (NKJV) “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them.
A. We must BE AWARE THAT THERE IS A KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. (Aware that there is a spiritual realm. “ For the kingdom of heaven is like”. . .)
Quote: “There is more to this life than this life.”
Question: Why is it so important to be aware that there is a spiritual realm?
Question: Without being aware of a spiritual realm, what could go wrong in our lives? B. We must BE AWARE THAT WE ARE SERVANTS OF GOD. (There are true servants and false servants. We are the servants in this story.)
The word Servant (doulos) means: those whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing His cause among men. A voluntary servant, one who gives himself up to another’s will.
Note: We will serve the one true God or someone or something else.
Matthew 6:24 (DLNT) No one can be serving two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted-to one and disregard the other. You cannot be serving God and wealth.
Question: Why do you think wealth is the #1 competitor to God in man’s heart?
Note: We must be aware that everything belongs to God.
Someone read Psalm 24:1
Psalm 24:1 (CEV) The earth and everything on it belong to the Lord. The world and its people belong to him.
Question: How does knowing that everything belongs to God change the way you steward things?
C. We must also BE AWARE THAT JESUS HAS GIVEN ALL OF US AN AMOUNT TO INVEST. (All of have an opportunity to use what we have for Jesus and His Kingdom.)
Matthew 25:15 (NKJV) 15 And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey.
Let’s define what a Talent is. One talent of silver was worth 6000 denari, which equates to 19+ years of wages. 5 talents was the earnings of several life times!
We can see in this scripture that the master distributed his wealth based on their own ability. What we can learn from this point is that God will never give us more than we can handle. God knows what we can handle based on what we have done in past responsibilities that have been given to us.
Question: What are you stewarding right now?
Question: Based on your stewardship of your current responsibilities, do you believe you are ready for greater?
The definition for the word Ability (dynimus) is: the power or capacity to do or act, physically, morally, mentally, skillfully, emotionally, leadership,
Quote: Our present performance will determine our future distribution.